Uh...is that a Swastika tattoo on my student?

A lot has happened since my man-hating post. Here is a recap:

Firstly, if you want to know what came about with the spitting incident, please read the comments for that post.

Last week I was invited out for supper with my co-workers and...oh my. All of the food that I've tried here has been good, but when I saw the platter of moving "muscles" in shells, I was at a loss for words. I'm not sure what they are in English, but something little a muscle I think (which I've never eaten). Like...they were trying to climb out of the shells while they were on the grill...before they died from the heat... anyway, i nibbled a little bit that was dipped in a lot of sauce....they didn't taste like much. Why eat something THAT gross looking when it doesn't taste like anything?! I've also noticed that suppers here are like a two hour ordeal so when the meal was finally over, I couldn't wait to leave. I overheard someone mention a Noray Bang (karaoke) but just high-tailed it out of there like i didn't know what a Noray Bang was!
On Tuesday, my school had their sports day (much like Track and Field day at schools back home). In the afternoon all of the teachers played with parents against other grades. I played on the grade 6 team and we came in 2nd behind grade 2. I was really reluctant to play but ended up having a great time. Afterwards, the grade 6 teachers and parents went out for a meal of slices of raw fish. Again, I was reluctant to try it but ended up really liking it. The key is to dip strange looking/feeling stuff into sauce. Chew, chew, swallow. I big step up, though, from the moving muscles from the week before. It gave me a chance to meet and talk to some of the other teachers. There are 4 grade 6 teachers. One is Boo who I've spent time with outside of school before (she's like...26 maybe) and two others are guys. Many of the male teachers at my school completely ignore me but these two were super-nice. They were helpful in teaching me how to properly eat the food and serve and receive drinks. You aren't supposed to pour for yourself and all beverages come in pitchers. Since the food is SO spicy, I usually end up grabbing a bottle and pouring before anyone can tear it from my thirsty grip (although this does happen).
My students' behaviour has been improving dramatically. I can't pinpoint any one reason why this is. I think it's partly that they were just testing the waters the first few classes and now they know what they can and can't get away with (more can't than can, of course). However, last week one of my students stood up at the start of class and shouted "Fuck you!". I'm not sure who he was directing this at but Mrs. Lee dealt with it and he was sent to his homeroom teacher. I have a feeling that he didn't actually know what he was saying. Maybe an older cousin or sibling told him to say it, thinking it was something good... wishful thinking? Also, one of the grade 6 classes I had today was actually out of control. They were 10 minutes late then spent the next 20 minute talking each other's ears off. I refused to yell over them because it's pretty pointless so I tried the put-on-a-stink-eye-and-wait-quietly-until-they-catch-on but it didn't work (usually it does). After 20 minutes, I told them to put thier books away, handed out paper and made them write lines 40 lines of "I will listen and be quiet". I threatened that if anyone spoke they would have to write 100 lines and could not leave until they were done. To their absolute horror, I took away the sticker that they had earned one class before (I use a reward system: if they are good in class (i.e. everyone brings thier books, they sing loudly, listen, be quiet, and so on) they can earn up to 3 stars, if they have 3 stars at the end of class, they get a sticker. When they earn 8 stickers, they get to watch a movie in class.) I see them twice a week and in 4 weeks, they have only been able to earn 1 sticker. Which they lost today. So there!
The most interesting bit about today was the student with a swastika tattoo on his finger. It's pretty shocking to see a grade 6 student with a tattoo and doubly shocking when it's something like that. The foreign teachers were warned that we might see this symbol because it was originally a Buddhist symbol but for Western eyes, it's very alarming. I discussed it with Mrs. Lee afterwards and explained to her what that symbol represents to me and she had no idea... I think that World War II memories are very different for Koreans than it is for Canadians and others from the West.
One more interesting tidbit is that this morning on my walk to school, I saw a man who literally had his hand and forearm down his pants while he was walking down the street. Like..not down the waist of his pants, bit his fly was down and his hand was in there...???